is the info seen on a soft & hard pull the same?

[Anonymous]

Hopefully this is in the right place for this question. I applied for a loan, they did a hard pull and I was approved. I have not decided if I am going to take the loan or not. They told me the loan offer and all of the documents are good for 120 days and during that time period they will not repull credit. After 120 days they would need to repull. I have not yet accepted the loan. I checked my credit report and lo and behold 5 weeks after the original hard pull they made a soft pull. All of my info is the same (if not better) so thats not an issue, I am just slightly irritated they told me they would'nt pull again, but did anyway.

So I am wondering can they see the same thing on a soft pull as hard? If not what would the difference be? I realize no one other than myself can see the soft pull and it does'nt count in credit scoring but wondering if the info seen by the creditor is somehow limited or is it the same? Thanks!

[haulingthescoreup]

If they do an account maintenance or account review soft (as they did in your case, it appears), they see the whole thing.

If they do a promotional soft, they just get your name and address and some general ranges about your scores and credit.

On your full EQ and TU reports, you can tell if it was the former or the latter. Experian just lumps them all together and leaves you to guess.

[RobertEG]

What an inquiry is entitled to is not dependent upon whether it is scored for FICO purposes as a so-called "hard" or "soft" pull.

The FCRA never uses the terms “hard” or “soft” inquiry.  FCRA 604(a)(3) defines who is entitled to receive any information from a CRA, and FCRA sections 604(c)(1)(B)  and 604(c)(2) clarify that if the  inquiry is not specifically authorized by the consumer or is not related to a business transaction what was initiated by the consumer, all the inquirer is entitled to receive is the name and address of the consumer.  This includes unsolicited offers for credit.

 

Under FCRA 603(m), the exclusion of providing full credit reports as “not being initiated by the consumer” does not extend to review of an account by an existing creditor, or for the purpose of collecting on an account.   But many of these are usually scored as "soft" pulls.

 

Recordation of an inquiry as a “hard” or “soft” inquiry is thus a credit scoring (FICO) issue, and not an FCRA issue.  Some creditors may still obtain a full copy of your CR, and yet code the inquiry alternately with FICO coding that may or may not result in its impacting your FICO score.  For example, if you apply for a CLI increase, legally the creditor can get a full copy of your CR, yet still code it as a "soft" pull.  When you order a copy of your own CR, for example, you get the full report, and yet it is scored as a “soft” inquiry for FICO scoring purposes. There are about nine different scoring codes used, so it depends upon how the inquirer reports it and/or how the CRA codes it.

 

In order for the CRA to determine what information the inquirer is entitled to, FCRA 607 requires that each inquiry must “certify the purposes for which the information is sought, and certify that the information will be used for no other purpose.”

How these are then converted to either “hard” or “soft” inquiries for FICO scoring purposes is not something I have ever seen published.  But this is not really and FCRA issue.  It is a FICO issue.

Message Edited by RobertEG on 11-14-2009 07:11 PM